


The One Where It's Kakashi's Birthday

by akimikono



Category: Naruto
Genre: Birthday, F/M, Gen, Happy Birthday Kakashi, Kakashi hates birthdays, Kakashi is full of guilt, Kakashi loves his s/o, Reader won't take no for an answer, Reader-Insert, お誕生日おめでとうカカちゃん
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-31 00:19:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12120456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akimikono/pseuds/akimikono
Summary: Kakashi hates birthdays, but he can't help but feel a little disappointed you didn't plan anything for him this year. Maybe it has to do with how he acted last year....





	The One Where It's Kakashi's Birthday

**Author's Note:**

> Written on the 15th for dear Kakashi's birthday! This is the first time I've been on time for anything birthday related. Amazing - the only time I'm NOT late for something is when it has to do with the notoriously late Copy Ninja...

Kakashi stared in dismay at the scene when he stepped into his apartment. There were no paper streamers hanging from the ceiling or balloons floating in the air; there were no massive centerpieces or banners or anything else that would indicate that today was different from any other day. It’s not like he _wanted_ a big celebration - truth be told, he hated the attention it brought and the false sentimentality people spewed for the sake of appearing to care. But he couldn’t help but feel a little bit disappointed that _you_ hadn’t done anything for his birthday. You’d been dating the Copy Ninja for a little over a year now, and this would be the second birthday you spent with him.

 _Maybe how I acted last time made them think I didn’t want them to do anything_ , Kakashi thought as he shed his flak jacket and sandals at the door. He grimaced at the memory of his last birthday. You’d only been dating for a few weeks then and you’d been so excited to celebrate his birthday that you went ahead and made plans without asking him because “it was a surprise.” You had done pretty much everything Kakashi despised - you’d made reservations at a popular restaurant, you’d baked him an unnecessarily sweet cake, you bought a handful of gifts, and you invited an even larger handful of people over to your own apartment for an after-dinner surprise party. As soon as Kakashi caught wind of your plan, he balked and spent most of the day wandering in the village to stay away from you. By the time he showed up, he was late for dinner (which, you had expected him to be a little late _but three hours was just ridiculous_ ), he looked you straight in the eye and said, “I don’t eat sweets”, he wouldn’t even look at the gifts you’d bought, and he declined your invitation to _at least_ go back to your apartment so you could whip up a quick make-up dinner (and, you know, have the surprise party). Without so much as a hint of an apology, Kakashi disappeared into the night and left you standing in the middle of the street.

_Yeah, I screwed that one up._

Kakashi couldn’t help it. He just didn’t like the idea of birthdays or all the gushing sweet words people tried to force on him. He just felt like it was a way for people to make themselves feel better for not caring enough about him throughout the rest of the year. It was a quick way to assert that they were still his “friend” without having to put forth the real effort of being a friend. Still, he noticed that he’d been holding his breath all day - hoping that maybe, _just maybe_ , he’d come home to find you there with some decorations and a cake or maybe a gift. Not that he wanted anything like that - but just to know he hadn’t hurt your feelings or crushed your enthusiasm for things like this. But not only was the apartment bare and lacking any exceedingly sweet dessert and crinkled birthday bag, he noticed that you weren’t there either. You hadn’t even bothered to make a surprise visit to wait for him to get off work.

He pulled off his jonin shirt and tossed it on the floor, heading for the couch in the small living room, collapsing down on his stomach and burying his face into the cushion. If this was how his birthday was going to go then he might as well get a nap in while his body was willing to let him sleep …

_Ding dong_

No such luck. Kakashi dragged himself wearily to his feet and made his way to the front door, pulling it open a crack to peer outside.

“Hey, let me in!”

Surprised, Kakashi stood back and the door swung open. You juggled a paper grocery bag in one arm, a paper box in the other, and had a plastic bag hanging from your fingers.

“A little help would be nice,” you hinted, wiggling your fingers so the plastic bag shook. Kakashi reached for the bag but you yanked away. “No! Not that one! Take the paper bag!”

Kakashi snatched the grocery bag from you and followed you to the kitchen where you slid the paper box onto the counter.

“What are you doing?” he asked, peering over the top of the paper bag to look inside. You waved him away, retrieving the paper bag from his arms, and pushed him back towards the living room.

“No peeking! I know you hate surprises - trust me, I’ve learned my lesson - but I thought it’d be nice to have a quiet night in. I’m going to make dinner right now. You can go back to whatever you were doing.”

Kakashi felt a mix of embarrassment and happiness bubble up in the pit of his stomach but he forced himself to keep a straight face as he shrugged. “Alright, I’ll stay out of your hair.” He ambled back to the living room and laid himself out on the couch, listening to you clatter about in the kitchen. There was a sudden ease that washed over him that came only from your gentle presence filling the small apartment. He reached up and pulled down his mask and he was overtaken with the aromas of whatever it was you’d brought home; mixed among them was the sharp scent of your apple shampoo and the sweet notes of a dessert. His ears trained on the tapping of a wooden spoon, the crunch of a vegetable being sliced, and the sizzling of a hot pan. Before he knew it, Kakashi was asleep.

* * *

You gently shook Kakashi’s shoulder, hissing at him to wake up. You knew from experience that trying to wake him suddenly from a nap was a _very bad idea_. But sometimes the man could sleep like a rock and took a lot of effort to wake him up. After your fifth attempt to shake him awake, he blinked a few times and turned his eyes up to you. He sat up quickly, the back of his hair pressed flat while the rest was in its typical wild display.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice thick with worry as he tried to get his bearings. “Did something happen?”

“No! Nothing like that! I’m sorry, I wouldn’t have woken you but - dinner’s ready.”

“Huh?” Kakashi looked at you, studying your face. Your cheeks were bright pink and there was a lightness in your expression; you were up to something. “Oh … thank you.”

“I’ll grab you a plate and we can eat out here.”

Before he could say anything, you disappeared into the kitchen and returned with supernatural speed. You’d obviously had fixed two plates already and had planned this part out. Handing a plate to Kakashi, you sat down cross-legged next to him and gave him a broad smile.

“What?” he asked, feeling self-conscious for a moment. His hand reached for his mask but he stopped himself, forcing his hand back to his side.

“Oh nothing. Just waiting for you to try it to see if you like it.”

“I’m sure if you made it then it’s delicious.”

“You’re sweet. Eat it.” You waited in anticipation until Kakashi took the first bite before you started eating. “Sorry,” you said through a mouthful of food. “But in my family we always let whoever’s birthday it is to take the first bite. Hey, speaking of which …”

Kakashi sighed and felt his shoulders tense at the thought of another surprise party. “I appreciate this, but if you invited anyone over —”

“What? After what happened last year? Yeah right! I know better than that. I already said I learned my lesson.”

Kakashi turned away to hide his guilty blush and cleared his throat. “Oh? Then what?”

“I got you a dessert - but it’s not that sweet!” You threw up a hand to stop him from speaking. “I found a cake that’s not all that sweet! Okay? And I know you don’t like gifts, _but_ I was passing by the bookstore on my way home from the grocery store and I saw something I _had_ to get you.” You pulled out the plastic bag from behind your back and handed it to him. Cautiously, he took it and removed its contents, which were loosely wrapped in a thin piece of tissue paper.

“Sorry about the wrapping job,” you said nervously, “it was all I had handy when I bought it. And I figured you didn’t want to spend the time to actually unwrap a gift.”

 _Am I really that picky?_ Kakashi tore away the paper and stared at the book in his hand. It had a bright lime green cover and the words _Itami to Ai_ written across the front in bold kanji. Below it had an illustration of a clenched fist and every knuckle had a small heart on it. Confused, he looked at you but you were bright-eyed, ready to explain.

“It’s called _Pain and Love_ and it was a recommended read for people who like the _Icha Icha_ series! I figured since you’ve read your _Icha Icha_ books at least five times each, you might like something new. Look, it even has a review from Jiraiya!” You flipped the book over to point to the back where there was, indeed, a review from the Toad Sage giving high praise about the novel.

Kakashi turned to look at you, unsure of what to say. Taking this opportunity of confused silence, you leaned over and gave him a soft kiss on his cheek.

“Happy birthday, Kaka-chan.”

The ninja’s eyes widened in surprise and a hot blush covered his cheeks as he processed what had just happened. _Kaka-chan? That’s … c-cute…_ As if his body was finally allowing him to react, his eyes snapped shut and a soft smile spread across his face, followed by everything from his neck up turning a rosy shade of pink. “Ha - th-thank you …”

Grinning from ear to ear you sat back, satisfied with his reaction. “Of course! I’d never _not_ do something for your birthday. But I think that doing the same thing every year could get boring… Maybe by next year I’ll have convinced you to have a party!” You laughed out loud at the pure stress on Kakashi’s face. “Just think about it. We have a whole year to prepare!”

“No amount of time could prepare me for that,” he muttered. Kakashi gingerly reached out and took your hand in his, tugging you closer and placing a soft kiss to your temple. “Really … Thank you,” he murmured against your hair.

Smiling to yourself, you leaned into him, feeling the heat of his chest radiate against your skin. “Thank you,” you replied, almost too quiet for him to hear, “for making it to another birthday.”

After a moment of content quietness, Kakashi pulled back and shyly looked away. “We should finish dinner so we can have that dessert. And maybe, if you’re up for it … I’ll … er, I can … uhm … r-read you part of th-this, ah, book … you got me.” He glanced over and saw your grin was even wider than ever and your eyes sparkled with excitement.

“Really?!”

“S-Sure … if you want. Since you bought it and all.”

“Well then forget dinner, let’s skip straight to dessert and you can start reading!” You jumped to your feet to grab the paper box that held Kakashi’s birthday cake.

Turning the book in his hands, Kakashi shook his head and tried to fight back the inescapable blush covering his entire body. _Well this will certainly be an interesting birthday. But it’s better than a surprise party._

 


End file.
